The last survivors of a forgotten war: ‘We were locked in for hours'
After crossing the causeway they were deposited at the docks where the evacuees were put on board a ship to Jakarta, Indonesia. They stayed there, sharing lodgings with a displaced Scottish mother and her newborn, before being moved to Sydney and then Melbourne for the rest of the war.
I have been thinking of Jean (one of my mother's great friends in Aberdeen, whose father, a bank manager, was in the notorious Changi Japanese internment camp in Singapore) because of The Second Map — The History Podcast, a riveting, revelatory three-part documentary series on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds commissioned to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 15.
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BBC News
13 hours ago
- BBC News
VJ Day: WW2 signed flag is 'a piece of history'
The son of a Royal Navy officer who was imprisoned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp has described a flag signed by his father as a "piece of history".Richard Wood from Fordingbridge, Hampshire, spotted his father's name, also Richard, on the union flag when it was featured in a recent BBC TV news had served on HMS Exeter, which was sunk in the Java Sea, before being imprisoned by the Japanese in National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth allowed Mr Wood access to see the flag and is looking to trace family members of other men who signed it. The flag was in an airdrop of food supplies to those in Makassar Prisoner of War Camp in Indonesia by the Australian air force in September 1945 after the Japanese had contained British, American and Dutch servicemen. A large contingent were from the Plymouth-based HMS Exeter, as well as HMS Encounter and the USS Pope, which had all been sunk during the Battle of the Java Sea in March Wood said his father had never mentioned the flag."He very rarely spoke about anything of his time, which was a shame - but I understand they were told not to," he spotted his father's writing on the flag when it was featured on a BBC South Today report about objects held at the museum, and was invited to see it."It's a real piece of history and its a real privilege to see it - knowing he signed in as he knew the war was almost Wood Snr stayed in the Royal Navy until he retired in 1968, having reached the rank of lieutenant commander. He died in 2007, aged 93. Prisoners in the camp suffered dreadful conditions during their three years in captivity. They endured frequent beating, while Malaria and other diseases were Heppa, the museum's curator of artefacts, said the flag had been dropped as way of telling the prisoners, they "hadn't been forgotten".The museum is hoping to put the flag on public display and is appealing for information about other men who signed it."If we can collect as much supporting information about the individuals named on the flag, that would be wonderful," he added. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special on BBC1: Poignant keepsakes of the Forgotten Army brought a lump to the throat...
Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special (BBC1) Rating: The words are inscribed on war memorials across the country: 'When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.' But few, perhaps, know the words are sometimes called the Kohima Prayer, named after a battle in a remote part of India in 1944, a turning point in the war against Japan. Unlike Alamein or Arnhem, Kohima is not frequently remembered. Sadly, the courage and the sacrifice of the British and Commonwealth soldiers who defended it, the 14th Army, are often overlooked too. No wonder they sometimes called themselves, with dry irony, the Forgotten Fourteenth. But their story was marked with a mixture of solemnity and sentimentality as some of their descendants brought treasured keepsakes of the war in the Far East to the Antiques Roadshow: VJ Day Special. 'It's history in your hand,' remarked historian Robert Tilney, as he inspected a Japanese officer's shin gunto sword, a trophy from Kohima. 'It's a hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck job.' This episode traced the conflict chronologically, from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. JUGGLING ACT OF THE WEEKEND A dolphin mother taught her calf how to play keepy-uppy with a piece of coral balanced on her nose, in Parenthood (BBC1). The trick was to drop it and catch it again before it hit the seabed. No using teeth or flippers... that's cheating. The names are familiar but the horrors suffered by troops in the jungles of South-east Asia are beyond imagination, as viewers of The Narrow Road To The Deep North (which followed on BBC1) can attest. Children and grandchildren of the survivors all repeated versions of the same line: 'He never talked about it much.' In part, as presenter Fiona Bruce discovered, this was because soldiers who returned from the murderous Japanese prisoner-of-war camps were under orders not to discuss what they had endured. I've always felt there was another, subtler psychological reason: these men had been through hell to protect their families. By making light of what they suffered, they were able to continue giving that protection. There was no doubting the debt of gratitude, coupled with a deep sense of respect, that everyone on the show felt. None of the artefacts was given a valuation — that would have been crass. In any case, how can you put a price on a bowl fashioned from a coconut shell, which was one man's only possession during his long imprisonment? There was no doubting the debt of gratitude, coupled with a deep sense of respect, that everyone on the show felt. None of the artefacts was given a valuation — that would have been crass Many of the items were impossibly poignant, such as a chess set carved from balsa wood with a penknife, or the hat worn by a soldier with the Chindits, an explosives expert fighting deep behind enemy lines. Possibly the most touching of all was a letter from an artillery man to his baby son, and preserved with care for more than 80 years. 'Dear little Jimmy,' he wrote, 'though you won't be able to read this, I hope you'll keep it and cherish it. Be very good for mummy as she's the dearest person in the world and love her just as much as I do.' Jimmy had a lump in his throat as he read it. And so did I.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Temporary housing for evacuated Coventry residents extended
Temporary accommodation for residents who were evacuated from a block of flats in Coventry after a major flood in the building will be extended "as a precaution".Citizen Housing, which manages Mercia House, said a leak in the sprinkler system was to blame, with four floors of the 17-storey building directly address the issue, both water and power were turned off at the site, further affecting residents and prompting the evacuation on firm said it would temporarily rehome residents, and Peter Gill, director of housing, care and support at Citizen Housing, said in a statement on Sunday that the arrangement would be extended until Friday. Pearl Miller, who has lived in the building for more than 30 years, said she had been moved to the Hotel Ramada with her partner, but has requested a move to a room with a fridge as they cannot store his has also had to buy a number of items after she was unable to get them from her flat, due to the "strict" visiting Miller said her partner had been able to return to her flat, but had to be guided by a worker for the housing company, and was only able to stay for 10 minutes. "Citizen have just said that it's too dangerous to go in," she said. "Whenever you ask Citizen when we can get back in, all they ever say is they can't say. "I just wish they would tell us that we can't go back in for seven days, or whatever it is, so we all know where we're going." In a statement, Mr Gill said the "safety of our customers remains our top priority".He added: "We've identified the source of the leak and are doing everything we can to get residents home as soon as possible."We're contacting all customers to let them know that once we've got the power and water back on, we'll be contacting them to arrange an appointment so we can check their home safely. "We know this is not ideal for our customers, but we'll continue to support them in any way we can until we get them back into their homes safely." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
